Cousins are the Awesomest!

Yesterday the kids and I returned from our trip to visit my family. We stayed at my brother-in-law and sister's house. They have three kids: a 7 year old boy, a 5 year old girl, and a 3 year old girl, so they match up pretty well with our 4 kids. All seven children definitely had a FANTASTIC time just being together.

My sister and I were fully aware of all the memories the children were making. We still have the fondest memories of weeks spent with our cousins when we were growing up. But there was one thing I kept wondering throughout the week. How is it possible that my sister and I are roughly the same age now as our mom and aunt were back then and yet we are SO young? Back then, our mom and aunt seemed old to us kids, but I definitely do not feel old now. Although I'm sure our 7 kids view my sister and I as old. Isn't it funny how life and age work like that?

One of the nicest things with the current ages of our children is that there was really no need to go out and do anything. Just being together and playing together was all they cared about. Our outings just seemed to get in the way of their play. Sometimes I really miss that carefree feeling of childhood, but I wouldn't give up experiencing it again through the eyes of my children for anything!

Alex was really in his element playing with his oldest cousin. He got to do boy stuff! He was really watching himself to make sure his cousin viewed him as a big kid. Their age difference is just enough that there could have been some difficulties, but my nephew did an awesome job of trying to include Alex whenever he could. Because of that, Alex most have told me at least 2 dozen times a day that cousins are the awesomest. The second we pulled out of their driveway to come home he began crying, saying how much he already missed them.

To update my concerns about the drive, everything went just fine. We only had to make a potty-stop one time on each trip. And everyone really enjoyed listening to The Wind in the Willows on CD. Gracie proved to be a wonderful passenger; she napped and played and honestly did not cry once on either trip. Believe me, I realize just how blessed I am.

Eric had a very busy week of working while we were gone. He even got some work around home done. He put 5 thin coats of wax on all of our linoleum floors and they look fantastic. As fun as our trip was, there is just nothing to beat the feeling of coming home to him. We missed him so much!